Gary Burns has over 25 years of international management experience, including large private and public sector projects, such as Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Concourse and Europe’s largest mail processing facility at Heathrow. Gary brings extensive Fortune 400 corporate leadership experience to eAgile: he served as an executive at Siemens and Avery Dennison. For the last 15 years, Gary has managed and led companies in the RFID industry, and he has been awarded many international patents for RFID, robotics, and automation. Gary earned his B.S. in engineering management at Western Michigan University.

Prior to his appointment at interim dean on July 1, 2024, Daum served as director of the MSU School of Packaging and assistant dean of corporate relations and strategy for CANR.

Prior to his return to his alma mater in 2020, Daum held a 25-year-career at HP Inc. (formerly Hewlett Packard) based in Boise, Idaho. In 2016, Daum became HP’s Director of Engineering for the LaserJet toner supplies business. He was responsible for new product research and development, current product engineering, supplies security strategy and product/package serialization strategy and implementation. Since July 2019 he also held the position of Product Marketing Director for the LaserJet supplies business.

He began his career at HP as a Packaging Engineer and eventually moved into management roles including Packaging, Supply Chain and Big Data Global Analytics. Most recently he held executive manager positions in Product Marketing and Product Research and Development for the HP LaserJet supplies business.

In addition, since 2007 Daum has served as adjunct associate professor at Clemson University in the Department of Food, Nutrition and Packaging Sciences where he advises graduate students. He has also guest lectured on the topics of supply chain and packaging at Clemson and the College of Idaho.

Dr. Douglas Gage supports cross-campus, interdisciplinary research initiatives and manages the Internal Grant program in the Office of Research & Innovation. He is the primary coordinator for the MSU Global Impact Initiative, a campus-wide effort to hire more than 100 new faculty in disciplines including STEM and biomedical research. He also represents the Office of Research & Innovation on the oversight committees for other major research initiatives, including the Institute for Quantitative Health Sciences and Engineering (IQ), the Institute for Integrative Toxicology, the Drug Discovery Initiative, the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization Hub, and the Spectrum Health-MSU Research Alliance.

Douglas chairs the University’s Advisory Council for oversight of high-risk international projects, including the USAID-funded GRAIN agricultural development project in Afghanistan. His other responsibilities have included being the academic lead on two major research building projects on campus: the Molecular Plant Sciences Building (2012) and the Interdisciplinary Sciences and Technology Building (2019). Recently, he has been part of the team planning the reactivation of MSU research that was suspended following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Douglas remains a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology where his previous research focused on metabolic engineering of plant biochemical pathways. In 2002, he left MSU to take a position at Pfizer Global Research and Development in Ann Arbor, where he was a Senior Director leading the Discovery and Early Clinical Development biomarker effort. He returned to an administrative role at MSU in the fall of 2007.

Douglas earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biology from Florida State University and his Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Texas, Austin. He completed his post-doctoral training at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory and at the MSU NIH Mass Spectrometry Research Resource.

Dr. Charles A. Hasemann, assistant vice president for innovation and economic development at the Michigan State University Innovation Center, earned his doctorate in Molecular Immunology and performed his post-doctoral training in X-ray Crystallography. As an assistant professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, he established an NIH-funded laboratory studying immune system-related protein structure and function. He was subsequently recruited to Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals in Ann Arbor, MI (later merged with Pfizer, Inc.) as the director of structure-based drug design, and via, a series of expanding management positions, ultimately joined the Executive Management team with direction over all aspects of drug discovery at the Ann Arbor site, as well as global leadership responsibilities for Pfizer’s overall drug discovery technologies. In his capacities at Pfizer, Charles oversaw several extensive and productive collaborations with biotechnology companies and academic laboratories.

In his time at MSU, Charles has launched the Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute, Business Connect, and most recently, Spartan Innovations. Charles now leads the MSU Innovation Center, consisting of Business Connect, MSU Technologies, and Spartan Innovations; these three organizations comprise MSU’s effort to partner with the private sector in order to leverage the University’s intellectual assets for economic value.  Combining his corporate research executive experience, with his academic research and administration experiences, Charles is well credentialed to lead the MSU Innovation Center on its mission to create productive research and technology commercialization relationships between MSU and the private sector, to connect regional entrepreneurs to the intellectual and technical capacity of the University, and to participate in regional economic activity endeavors.

jhatfiel@msu.edu
989-488-3270

John D. Hatfield is the executive director of The Axia Institute, responsible for leading the organization in its efforts to deliver innovative research and value chain solutions to members in the health care, food, and advanced manufacturing industries.

Previously, John served as the director of marketing and communications, where he was responsible for helping to refine Axia’s offering to industry and develop the Institute’s consortium-based outreach strategy. As part of Axia’s leadership team, he also helped define the Institute’s marketplace and competitive positioning. During his tenure in that role, he led sales and marketing efforts aimed at securing new corporate partners, and spearheaded the development of in-person and virtual client forums. Prior to joining Axia, John worked at various organizations in the financial and professional services industries, where he honed his leadership skills in addition to his extensive expertise in marketing and brand building.

John earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, and a master of business administration degree from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He is active in his community, where he serves as member on various boards.

MSU Research Foundation Professor, John Papapolymerou, serves as interim dean of the College of Engineering at Michigan State University, where he leads eight academic departments and two academic programs. He also serves as director of the MSU Space Electronics Initiative, a college collaboration with MSU’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). Under his leadership, college research, teaching and innovation continue to generate high-impact opportunities and advancements to fuel workforce and economic development around the world.

A fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Papapolymerou’s research interests are in the areas of RF/microwave/mm-wave/THz circuits, antennas, and packaging for wireless communication systems, sensors, and radars. His research has been supported by federal sponsors and industry.

Papapolymerou, a faculty member in the college’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), served as the department chair for nine years prior to being appointed interim dean for the college in 2024.

He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan and his bachelor’s degree from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece.

Bob Plishka leads strategic partnerships for Dow, which includes Dow’s participation in sports as well as collaborations that strengthen Dow’s brand and reputation. In addition, he leads Dow’s corporate citizenship efforts, and is President of the Dow Company Foundation.

Bob came to Midland in 1999 with a short-term, on-site assignment at Dow corporate headquarters in Midland, working on the corporate integration team for the merger of Dow and Union Carbide Corporation for Gibbs & Soell Public Relations. This led to him being named as North American marketing communications manager for the Company’s $3 billion Polyethylene business in mid-2000. Since that time he has worked in many businesses and corporate Public & Government Affairs roles at Dow, including in Polyolefins and Elastomers; Dow Building and Construction (from the Company’s European headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland); and Investor Relations and Media Relations during the global financial crisis and Company’s acquisition of Rohm and Haas Company in 2008-2009.

In 2013, Bob relocated to Dubai, U.A.E. to lead Public & Government Affairs for the Middle East, Africa, India and Turkey.

In December 2015, he was named to the dual role of leading public affairs integration activities for the Dow Corning transaction as well as communications director for Dow’s then president and chief operating officer Jim Fitterling.

In 2018, he was named global director of Business Communications, Brand, and Sports Marketing.

Bob holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications/Journalism from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, and has attended the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona, where he completed The International Consortia executive education program.

Dr. Whipple is also the Bowersox-Thull Endowed Professor of Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Prior to this, she directed the Food Industry Management Program at MSU. Dr. Whipple has extensive teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate level, teaching in the Full-time MBA, Executive MBA, MS-SCM and doctoral programs. Dr. Whipple was awarded the MSU Teacher Scholar Award for excellence in teaching and research, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Educators Conference Teaching Innovation Award, and various best paper awards, including the Bernard J. La Londe Best Paper Award of the Journal of Business Logistics. Dr. Whipple’s research interests include supply chain integration and collaboration.

Judy has published work in numerous logistics, supply chain and marketing journals. For her contribution to the field of supply chain management, she was selected as a DC Velocity Rainmaker. She previously served on the Board of Directors at CSCMP, chaired its Research Strategies Committee and co-chaired its Supply Chain Innovation Award. Dr. Whipple currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).